Making your own tortilla's

For Valentines Day I am cooking up a nice Mexican feast for my wife and wanted to take it up a little notch by making my own tortillas. I've looked at a couple of recipes online and it doesn't seem too tough. Anyone ever do this? It seems like a lot of trouble given that I'd only be making them for one meal and they probably wouldn't keep long, but I think it would be a nice touch.

Anyone ever do this? Suggestions? Is it worth the trouble?

Thanks in advance.

We make ours all the time, but there are many starting points

1) grinding corn soaked in lime or ash to make your own fresh masa from scratch
2) buying fresh masa from a tortilleria
3) Mixing up masa from powdered maseca or "tortilla mix".

#2 and #3 are the most practical. You need a tortilla press (or a rolling pin). The biggest problem with #3 is getting the moisture content just right - too much and the masa is too sticky to easily work with and too little will get you cardboard. I would go for #2 - you will surely be able to find masa - but the best will made fresh from corn (#1) rather than from big sacks of maseca. Make sure to specify "masa para tortillas".

Your wife will appreciate the extra effort (even if she gets cardboard tortillas

Bill/SFNM

Bill/SFNM wrote:We make ours all the time, but there are many starting points

1) grinding corn soaked in lime or ash to make your own fresh masa from scratch
2) buying fresh masa from a tortilleria
3) Mixing up masa from powdered maseca or "tortilla mix".

#2 and #3 are the most practical. You need a tortilla press (or a rolling pin). The biggest problem with #3 is getting the moisture content just right - too much and the masa is too sticky to easily work with and too little will get you cardboard. I would go for #2 - you will surely be able to find masa - but the best will made fresh from corn (#1) rather than from big sacks of maseca. Make sure to specify "masa para tortillas".

Your wife will appreciate the extra effort (even if she gets cardboard tortillas

Bill/SFNM

Cool, thanks Bill. The Mexican grocer I usually go to is on Ashland just north of the K-Mart and Jewel (about 1400 North), but the name escapes me. I'll check there and see if they have fresh masa, I'm sure they do.

I was actually thinking about making flour tortilla's as well or as an alternative, as they would seem to hold up better with the fajita's I'm making but I may be getting into one very sloppy kitchen doing that and I haven't had much luck with dough consistency in the past.

I think I'll buy flour and make some corn.

Can that masa mixture be used for empanatas as well? It should be the same stuff right?

Empanadas are a flour based dough, but fresh masa can be used for sopes, deep fried quesadillas, and other masa-snack type dishes-some requiring baking powder and lard in addition to just water. The homemade tortillas can be tricky if you are not used to handling this stuff.
It may be prudent to but some good corn tortillas as back up.

stewed coot wrote:Empanadas are a flour based dough, but fresh masa can be used for sopes, deep fried quesadillas, and other masa-snack type dishes-some requiring baking powder and lard in addition to just water. The homemade tortillas can be tricky if you are not used to handling this stuff.
It may be prudent to but some good corn tortillas as back up.

Oops. Yeah I was actually thinking of Sopes. At Irazu they make cheese filled sopes and call them empanatas so I get confused sometimes. I'll maybe have to try and come up with a more manageable menu if I have to. I did see this pre-made mixture as an option, but I'm not sure how good it is:

http://www.texmextogo.com/store/PPF/par ... e_info.asp

The stuff on that site is the same as what Bill was talking about-maseca. You can find it everywhere. I didn't mean to discourage you from taking a stab at making the tortillas from scratch-it just takes some practice. Good luck.